Ohio Man Visits Wawa

By Tanya Rollins  |  BwB News Editor, Contributor

LONG NECK, Del. — What began as a routine attempt to purchase a pack of Doublemint gum escalated into confusion and significant pedestrian congestion Friday afternoon after an Ohio man unfamiliar with Wawa door etiquette became trapped in an increasingly complicated series of social obligations near the store's entrance.

According to witnesses, 58-year-old Ohio resident Gary Pritchard entered the Long Neck Wawa shortly after noon while his wife waited in the car.

“She likes Doublemint,” Pritchard later explained. “I figured I'd run in, grab a pack and come right back out.”

It was his first mistake.

Pritchard, who had never previously visited a Wawa, successfully navigated the first set of doors before discovering a second set approximately eight feet away.

“I wasn't expecting another door,” he said. “I had just gone through a door.”

Witnesses say Pritchard initially attempted to proceed normally but became confused after another customer held the interior door for him while a woman approaching from the parking lot simultaneously reached for the exterior door.

Unsure of his responsibilities, Pritchard elected to hold the interior door.

Three people passed through; then another man approached.  Pritchard continued holding the door.

“He was already in trouble at that point,” said Long Neck resident Denise Carver, who witnessed the incident. “You could tell he didn't understand the system.”

According to Carver, Pritchard then made the critical mistake of making eye contact with an elderly couple approximately 25 feet away.

“You can't do that,” she said. “Once they see you holding it, you're committed.”

Pritchard waited.  During that time, two additional customers entered the vestibule, one customer attempted to leave, another held the exterior door for a woman who was still getting out of her car, and a fourth customer apparently misunderstood which door Pritchard was responsible for.

Within minutes, the entire system had broken down.

“I didn't know who I was holding it for anymore,” Pritchard said. “People kept thanking me, so I figured I was doing the right thing.”

He was not.

By 12:17 p.m., witnesses reported approximately 14 people attempting to negotiate the two-door vestibule while several additional customers waited outside, uncertain whether Pritchard was entering, exiting, holding, yielding or simply employed by Wawa.

The disruption occurred during the height of the lunch rush.

After her husband failed to return to the car for nearly fifteen minutes, Pritchard's wife, Linda, went inside to investigate.

“I could see him through the glass,” she said. “He was just standing there holding a door. I said, ‘Gary, what the hell are you doing?’ And he said, ‘I don't know.’”

Experienced Wawa customers eventually intervened and restored the traditional door-holding sequence.

Pritchard was escorted from the vestibule shortly afterward.